NEW YORK - Lance Armstrong isn't the only one excited about the start of the Tour de France.

Saturday's first stage also marks the beginning of the Outdoor Life Network's nearly monthlong coverage of the world's most prestigious cycling race. The network will feature about 1212 hours of coverage each race day.

''For one month, we're basically all-Tour, all the time,'' said Roger Williams, OLN's president and chief executive. ''To us, it's our Super Bowl and that's how we treat it. That's why we dedicate prime time to it and that's why we spend the money to promote it.''

This will be the third year the 23-day race is televised on OLN, a small cable network that reaches about 53 million homes through a variety of cable systems, as well as satellite systems DirecTV and the Dish Network.

CBS also will provide one-hour tape-delay coverage on each of the last three Sundays of the race.

The biggest difference in this year's OLN coverage is in the announcing booth. Last year, Phil Liggett and Don Shirwin were working for the international feed of the race that was produced by French television.

This year, Liggett and Shirwin will be announcing for OLN. While about 90 percent of the action shown will be by cameras working for French TV, OLN will be able to better coordinate commercials and drop in promotional spots with its own announcers.

Though the cycling doesn't produce blockbuster ratings - last year's coverage was watched by about 400,000 households each day - it does give the network an identity.

2003 Tour de France (requires Flash)

''In a couple-hundred-channel environment you have to have things like the Tour to have people notice you and to give them a reason to make OLN a destination channel,'' Williams said.

Beginning Sunday, the network will provide live coverage of the race from 9 a.m. to about 11:30 a.m. That coverage will be replayed four times each day, including once during prime time, from 8:30-11 p.m. There also will be a half-hour studio show from a temporary set that will be put together at the site of that day's stage.

The only other prime-time show on OLN during the Tour will be coverage of the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain, a thrill-seeking adventure made famous by Ernest Hemingway.

There will be highlight shows, complete with features on the riders and stories about the French countryside, during the race's two off days.

''As an event it's good for them to have that and it's obvious they think there's an audience for it,'' said Brian Schecter, an analyst for Kagan World Media.

Schecter said a niche outfit such as OLN holds a big advantage in televising a signature event like the Tour de France: It makes the network notable for at least one thing. From there, promotion for other shows - in OLN's case, shows such as ''Bird Dogs Forever'' and ''Acapulco Cliff Diving'' - can reach a wider audience.

''That's how you build a network,'' Schecter said.

While Williams is realistic about the number of viewers the network will draw, he hopes the race's history - this year is the event's 100th anniversary - and Armstrong's bid to tie a record with a fifth straight win will help increase viewership.

''I would like to think that we can beat our high-water marks from last year,'' he said.